Friday, 2 September 2011

Girls are usually so placid

We rediscover last year's ways of living in Hong Kong, i.e. a four-hour stay in the library, then a stopover at I Scream.

This is a benefit with girls. I am maternally grateful for it everyday, no matter what fresh emotional torture they dream up. I know I can never have it as bad as Mothers of Boys.

I think this because, although I have no sons, I know what it is to have a brother. They settle scores swiftly and violently and throw themselves about - and their sisters too - with no sense of danger.

I still bear the scar where Big Bro made a trolley out of a 1950s television cabinet. To test his new design, he stood his five-year old sister in the back, then gave both a shove from the top of a hill. The only means of stopping was to slam into a wall. When I saw the blood, I retaliated in the brotherly manner in which I had been raised by swinging a wooden plank at his head.

But most girls I know (except Alex) shy away from this oblivious-to-danger point, like home-made bungee ropes cut from mother's bra elastic. I believe girls would, sooner or later, pause to reflect on the consequences of the plan to suspend the rope from an upstairs bedroom window and get their little brother to jump out first.

Of course, if you home educate, you can draw out this tendency of girls and engage them in quieter activities for hours. Angry impulses and violent frustrations you can help them control, and lead them towards calm rationality, gentle expression, and thoughtful discussion.

Indeed, I have known four-year old home educated girls who think an afternoon's discussion about emotional relationships while bent over the Hama beading is the most rewarding and delightful activity. Possibly after knitting, or drawing careful pictures of the teapot. (If you do not know what Hama beading is, congratulations. Please do not depress yourself by finding out.)

Well, I guess I have encouraged similar. The quiet occupation of reading. My daughters 1,2,3, all late readers, were not really that capable or interested until the age of eight or so, but they now choose to sit for hours with books, often written for readers well above their age. As they read, they like to be surrounded by books too, so libraries are places of quiet intellectual inquiry and stimulation.

So it's a gentle day, driven by girl interests.

Tiger has flown into Hong Kong with some determination to compose life as she likes it, such as four-hour library visits, followed by the best gelato. Shark is happy, because she finds the fun-with-fish section augmented, and Squirrel is coming to terms with growing up.

I am coming to terms with Squirrel growing up as well. As of yesterday, thanks to her new mastery of excoriating sarcasm, she is on a different pocket-money rota. Each day I give her seven dollars if she can make it through to bedtime without me wanting to punch her in the face.

Other stuff

We have educated triplet girls to age 16 by never sending them to school.

At age 16, one daughter is now at 6th form for A levels, so you can find out about culture clash.

The other two daughters are taking a year to think what they want to do next, because we run at our own pace.If you are looking for primary, try the archives under 2011 or 2012. Ideas? Try Seven days with elephants.

Secondary home ed? Try 2012 or 2014 through to 2016.

Exams made life boring for us all and the blog stopped for long periods so the home educated could concentrate on enjoying some teens.

From 2016, expect the blog to start concentrating on me, me, me, because it's my turn.

Home ed style: Secular, philosophical, eclectic, autonomous.

Exams: own choice IGCSE courses. The HE-exams group is a must-join. I gave formal lessons in nothing.

where is everybody?

This blog is a record of a home educationwrit for parents thinking about home edwrit for the LA who need an education about home edwrit for Grit's friends and relations who drop in once a yearand writ for Grit's sane and lovely mind.

The internal DCSF Consultation Report, made public 23 January. (pdf)In Annex A, 94% of respondents disagreed that the local authority should have the power to interview a home educated child alone.When this comes out Ed Balls' mouth in the Second Reading Debate, 94% against turns to:'The vast majority of parents would be happy to let that happen'(Hansard 11.01.10, Children, Schools and Families Bill, col 437.)

Love it or loathe it? The petition still broke a record.Press release in the Mirror, Channel4 news, the Guardian.

'Even if you don't currently see yourself home educating, you never know what the future might hold, and if a time comes when you find yourself needing to pull your child out of school, I hope the option is still available to you, and you don't regret thinking *it's nothing to do with me*.'

Read the Right to Reply'Home educators are renowned for their strong opinions and independent spirit. They come from all faiths and none. They have as many approaches to education as there are children. They rarely agree on anything. And yet they are remarkably united in their opposition to these proposals. There is great concern that their way of life will be legislated out of existence.'--Response to the Badman Review of Elective Home Education in England and reaction to the Select Committee hearing.

The problem with home educators is that they are impossible to define. The only things that links them is respect for their children. And did the state just stagger foolishly across that line?Are we sandal wearing tree huggers who let our kids run wild or control mad Jesus freaks who don't want them learning about sex and evolution? Are we hot housing or leaving them to watch TV and play computer games all day? -Firebird.The UK government suggested that we home educate our children to cover up our abuse.On that issue, would you like some statistics?

'The Department [for Children, Schools and Families] is aware that attempts are being made on the Internet to vilify and harass the author of the review. It is the Department's view that, whilst dealing with each request on its merits, this situation will have to be taken into account in dealing with any relevant FOI requests. ... we anticipate the need to consider whether it is in the public interest to release information likely to intensify any such campaign, or to lead to harassment or distress to individuals.'Hello DCSF. Vilify: to make vicious and defamatory statements about.Like putting it about that home educated children are abused by their parents? Isolated? Unsocialised? Denied an education?And the latest one, that their mothers have Munchhausen's Syndrome by Proxy, and benefit from their child's suffering.

... compulsory registration, entry to the home, inspection according to external standards, and power to see the child without the parent present.By implication this applies to anyone who has their child at home with them: particularly parents with under 5s, but also those with school-aged children who are at home in the evenings, over the weekends, and throughout the summer holidays. Think on: the possibility of parental inspection, with or without your presence, based on the very human whim of a local authority officer.Is that okay with you?Renegade Parent on the implications for all parents from the Badman review of home education.

'Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children'.(Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 26.3)

Photos and text copyright Grit.This is Grit's blog. The pictures come from her broken phone camera, and they are hers by right.

The words too are Grit's, Grit's, all Grit's. This is not to say you cannot use any words that Grit uses - after all, she is the unhinged woman who once banned SOIL - but you just cannot lift them in the long, complex and lovely arrangements, like the ones Grit has writ.

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